Such great idea's from you all. thanks I will try them all this weekend and see which works better for me.

I never thought of using a glass, that's a great idea. well worth a try thanks Lotti.

Good idea about the coat hanger. I will try that. thanks.

When at a retreat without my thread stand, I put the cone in a coffee mug right behind my featherweight and ran the thread in front of the spool pin on top of the machine. Worked great for me, until we ran out of coffee mugs and I had to give it up.

on my mum's old bernina (same age as me), my dad rigged up a regular plastic coathanger which he attached with a large rubber band - works super well
sorry can't find the picture right now

oh - and to keep the spool from going off doing its own thing, i just stand it inside a large glass, beermug, high bowl - something a bit wider than the spool - tall enough to keep it in place and heavy enough so it stays put.

On my machine I have a vertical pin for spools on the top right hand side. When using a large cone I place it close behind the machine and bring the thread up, around the vertical pin and then continue with the usual thread path. I don't have any problems doing it this way. Otherwise you need to be able to have a hook directly above the cone for the thread to run through before it goes across to the machine. I believe there are cone stands available for sale, but I would probably start off reshaping a wire coat hanger or banana hanger or mug tree first.

I would like to use the large spools of thread 2500 metres, where is the best place to place them for sewing on the machine as they do not fit on the spool. I have tried to stand it behind the machine but it just seems to catch. Any ideas please.